Why some mediators dislike marketing…for good reason

Not all mediators dislike marketing. I love it, though I didn’t always. If you’re reading this, it seems possible that there are a few things about marketing that you don’t like and some marketing tasks you wouldn’t miss if they magically disappeared tomorrow.

Here are the most common reasons mediators tell me they shy away from, dislike, or downright can’t stand marketing:

Marketing Is Like Over-Cooked Spinach. If you’re of a certain age and went through U.S. public schools, you’ll recall cafeteria monitors who made sure you ate all the food on your little orange elementary school cafeteria tray. Remember the odorous little pile of over-cooked spinach, left for last because it closely resembled something no human should be forced to ingest?

With how much zest did you eat the cafeteria vegetable you despised?

Maybe you finally ate it, grimacing in disgust with every slither down your throat. Or maybe you pinched your nostrils shut with one hand while shoveling the offending vegetable in with the other, swallowing as fast as you could to get it over with. Or maybe, like me, you had regular showdowns with the cafeteria monitor, simply refusing to eat that awful little bowl of food. Talk about being positional!

For some, the act of “doing marketing” is akin to stinky, over-cooked cafeteria spinach. You do it dutifully, but try to get it over with as quickly as possible. Or you grind your teeth in distaste all the while. Or you simply don’t do much of it at all.

Marketing Is Like Pitching When You Can’t Throw. Let’s head back to elementary school again and I’ll try to keep the trauma minimal. It’s time for gym and the game of the day is baseball. You can’t throw to save your life but you’re pretty darn handy with the mitt. You’ve been put on a team for the next two months and the most winning team will get special awards at a school assembly at the end of the year. The gym teacher appoints you as pitcher.

How much are you looking forward to gym for the next two months?

For some, marketing asks you to play to your weaknesses instead of your strengths. Instead of being assigned catcher and looking forward to gym, you drag your heels going down the hall and develop a sudden stomach ache that yields a pass to the school nurse and a blessed reprieve from all-too-public failure.

If you associate marketing with having to do cold calling or schmoozing at your local business networking group’s monthly meetings, and you’re not good at either, you’re going to drag your heels. Or maybe you feel that stomach ache coming on even as you read this!

Marketing Is Like Selling Used Cars. I recall a used car salesman who ran pretty awful commercials on one of my local television channels years ago. The commercials were the kind of low quality often associated with low-budget ads. The salesman wore a weird red wig (like Raggedy Andy!), and his tagline was something like, “I won’t stop wearing this wig until I convince you to buy a car from me!”

How likely are you to buy a car from him? About as likely as me, I suspect.

For some, marketing is associated with hype, hyperbole and hyperactivity. Perhaps you associate it with being manipulated, having something put over on your, or even being lied to. If you’re a mediator who associates marketing with this kind of activity, then you’re going to steer clear.

And for good reason. You just wouldn’t look that good in a red Raggedy Andy wig.